WPolityce wiki is a Polish right-wing portal that was founded in 2010 by brothers Jacek and Michał Karnowski, who are also journalists and publicists. The portal covers political, social, economic, and cultural topics from a conservative and patriotic perspective. It also cooperates with other media outlets such as Sieci, a weekly magazine, and wPolsce.pl, a television channel.

The History of wPolityce

The idea of creating wPolityce emerged after the dismissal of four journalists from Rzeczpospolita, a daily newspaper, in 2012. The journalists were accused of publishing a controversial article that claimed that traces of explosives were found on the wreckage of the plane that crashed near Smolensk in 2010, killing the Polish president and many other officials. The article sparked a political scandal and a dispute between Poland and Russia.

The fired journalists decided to launch their own media project, which they named wPolityce. They were joined by many other former colleagues from Rzeczpospolita and Uważam Rze, another right-wing weekly that was shut down by its owner shortly after. The first issue of wPolityce was published on June 17, 2010, and sold out 150,000 copies. Since then, the portal has been growing in popularity and influence, attracting millions of readers and viewers.

Read more about wPolityce: A Conservative News Portal in Poland

The Content and Contributors of wPolityce wiki

wPolityce. offers a variety of content, including news, analysis, commentary, interviews, reports, podcasts, videos, and blogs. The portal also publishes original investigations and exposes on topics such as corruption, scandals, crimes, and foreign affairs. Some of the most notable stories that wPolityce broke or covered extensively include:

• The Amber Gold affair, a financial fraud that involved the son-in-law of former prime minister Donald Tusk
• The tapes scandal, a series of leaked recordings that revealed the private conversations of politicians and businessmen in upscale restaurants
• The VAT gap, a massive tax evasion scheme that cost the Polish budget billions of zlotys
• The Smolensk crash, the circumstances and aftermath of the plane disaster that killed 96 people
• The judicial reform, the controversial changes to the Polish judiciary system proposed by the ruling Law and Justice party

wPolitycealso features many prominent columnists and commentators who express their opinions on various issues. Some of them are:

• Jacek Karnowski, the editor-in-chief of Sieci and a former mayor of Sopot
• Michał Karnowski, the deputy editor-in-chief of Sieci and a former deputy editor-in-chief of Uważam Rze
• Marzena Nykiel, the editor-in-chief of wPolityceand a former deputy editor-in-chief of Rzeczpospolita
• Marek Pyza, the deputy editor-in-chief of wPolityce and a former reporter for Rzeczpospolita
• Grzegorz Górny, an author and journalist who specializes in history and religion
• Stanisław Janecki, a journalist and political scientist who writes about politics and economics
• Piotr Cywiński, a historian and journalist who writes about culture and education
• Maja Narbutt, a journalist and lawyer who writes about law and justice
• Aleksandra Jakubowska, a journalist and activist who writes about feminism and social issues

Additionally, wPolityce hosts several politicians from the Law and Justice party who contribute their views on current affairs. Some of them are:

• Janusz Wojciechowski, a member of the European Court of Auditors and a former member of the European Parliament
• Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, a member of the European Parliament and a former member of the Polish Parliament
• Ryszard Czarnecki, a member of the European Parliament and a former vice-president of the European Parliament
• Izabela Kloc, a member of the Polish Parliament and a former member of the European Parliament

The Position and Reception of wPolityce wiki

wPolityce is widely regarded as one of the most influential and popular right-wing media outlets in Poland. According to the Institute for Media Monitoring (IMM), wPolityce was the third most frequently quoted online media source in April 2019 (944 citations), after Onet.pl (3478 citations) and Wirtualna Polska (2288 citations). The portal also has over 2 million followers on Facebook  and over 300 thousand subscribers on YouTube .

However, wPolityce is also often criticized and accused of being biased, sensationalist, and propagandist. In 2019, a report by researchers from the University of Oxford classified wPolityce as one of the main producers of junk news in Poland, defined as “misleading, deceptive or incorrect information purporting to be real news about politics, economics or culture” . The report was based on a quantitative analysis of social media data and claimed that wPolityce spread false or misleading information about topics such as immigration, the European Union, and the opposition parties. The portal denied the allegations and threatened to sue the authors of the report . The Center for Monitoring Press Freedom of the Polish Journalists Association also defended the professionalism of wPolityce’s journalists and questioned the ideological motives of the Oxford study .

Conclusion

wPolityce wiki is a prominent right-wing portal that provides news and commentary on various aspects of Polish and international affairs. It was founded by former journalists from Rzeczpospolita and Uważam Rze who were fired or resigned in protest over editorial disputes. The portal cooperates with other conservative media outlets such as Sieci and wPolsce.pl and hosts many well-known publicists and politicians. wPolityce is popular among its readers and viewers, but also controversial among its critics and opponents. It has been involved in several scandals and controversies, such as the Smolensk crash, the tapes scandal, and the junk news report. wPolityce is a media phenomenon that reflects the polarization and diversity of the Polish political and media landscape.